1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to menu navigation of a display unit of an electronic device, and specifically, to a method and apparatus for navigating a menu in a display unit of an electronic device in a manner that improves user convenience.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, mobile communication terminals have incorporated various additional functions in addition to a phone communication function. For example, functions such as a camera function, an MP3 (MPEG Audio Layer 3) player function, an Internet function and an SMS (Short Message Service) function have been provided. Furthermore, the shape of mobile communication terminals and user interfaces (UI) are being designed in consideration of these additional functions.
Due to their small size, electronic devices such as mobile communication terminals, digital cameras, camcorders and MP3 players are provided with relatively small display units and the various functions are provided using such small display units. In order to use the various functions, a user can view displayed information, such as a list, menu or graphics user interface (GUI), on the small display unit and can select a desired item by moving a cursor in the display menu, or, in other words, by performing menu navigation.
There are a variety of conventional methods for moving a cursor in a menu displayed on a display unit. Some of the various conventional methods are described with reference to FIGS. 1A to 1C. FIGS. 1A to 1C are illustrations of conventional cursor moving methods that can be used for a display unit of an electronic device.
FIG. 1A illustrates a “moving body” cursor moving method in which a cursor is fixed at the center of a menu displayed on a display unit and the menu is moved up and down. The “moving body” method is disadvantageous in that the cursor moves in a direction that is opposite to a direction that the menu moves because the menu moves upwardly when a user presses a down direction key and this may confuse the user.
FIG. 1B illustrates a “moving cursor via pages” cursor moving method in which a menu is divided into several pages and displayed and a cursor can move up and down only within a single displayed page at a time. However, the “moving cursor via pages” method is disadvantageous in that it cannot provide continuity between items of the menu because the page is changed while the cursor moves to an item of a second page from an item within a first page.
FIG. 1C illustrates a “moving cursor” cursor moving method in which a cursor is moved up and down within a menu, regardless of pages. However, the “moving cursor” method is disadvantageous in that it is difficult to predict what is going to be the next item displayed because the cursor is fixed to the last line of a display unit before the last item of a displayed the page is replaced with the next item of the next displayed page.
As described so far, the conventional methods for navigating a menu shown on a display unit of an electronic device may confuse the user because of the above-identified disadvantages. Therefore, there is a need for a method and apparatus for navigating a menu shown on a display unit of an electronic device that reduces user confusion. The present invention addresses this and other needs.